Thread: Felder K500s

I am a Carpenter but now retired. I was in kitchen/white board cabinet making for 16 years and got to use quite a number of different Panel Saws during that time. While retired I was doing a few cupboards and was using a Jet Contractors Saw with an outrigger (idea from Triton attachment) to break down the sheets into components. The system worked OK but handling the large sheets was a pain.

I live in a rural area and had 240 Volts only for supply. I also got interested in Chainsaw Milling and found I needed a jointer and thicknesser. I also needed 3 Phase so I could use heavy duty "old machines" because they were cheaper but more importantly they were more solid and could handle our hardwoods better. Along the way I found an SCM Panel Saw for $610, yep a bargain. To power these machines I sorsed components for a Rotary Phase Changer. A Forum member kindly put the thing together and its been working now for 6 years with no dramas.

Being a single operator The converter runs one machine at a time. Now, the SCM has 2 motors. One runs the 5.5Hp main blade while the Scoring blade has a Hp motor. My converter is rated at 5Hp output. When running both saw blades I am drawing 6.5 Hp. I was concerned that I may be over loading the Converter so I contacted the supplier of the Converters components and he told me it would be fine and extended my warranty for an additional year.

Just a small note about buying old machinery. The Jointer and Thicky were bought off Ebay, sight unseen until I picked them up and they both worked as intended. The SCM, when I drove down to Sydney, 6 Hour trip, was dangling off a sling on the blokes crane so couldn't check any thing about it. Got home put it in the workshop, connected it, did a squareness check and found the sling fence was still spot on. Quality machines keep their quality.
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